Page:Oregon Historical Quarterly vol. 9.djvu/253

 Slavery Question in Oregon. 229 never will be, as it is unanswerable. Though Mr. Bush, by reputation, was a free-state man, and his paper neutral editorially, yet on account of its great circulation and auto- cratic influence, its course during those critical times gave great anxiety to the radical opponents of slavery. In truth The Statesman was intensely feared and hated by them. Pre- sumabh^, many harsh judgments were formed concerning the editor of The Statesman— one of them, that he was following the lead of Senator Douglas and like him did not care whether slavery was voted up or voted down, so that his party sur- vived the agitation. Of this, however, his opponents did not know. Others, more favorably disposed, conjectured that he had secretly polled his party and knew there was no danger from slavery. Of this they were equally ignorant. But certain it was, that he followed the trend and custom of the times, that of putting party before country, and thus revers- ing the rational order and purpose for which parties are formed, viz. : as means to an end, and that end the establish- ment of justice and securing the blessings of libertj) to all the people. Mr. Bush was a young man during those times. Indeed, it was a young generation and did not thoroughly comprehend that mere party spirit is the principal menace to popular institutions, or, as Abraham Lincoln expressed it, a government of the people, by the people, and for the people. They had not heeded the warnings in Washington's farewell address to his countrymen, and were given over, intoxicated by the esprit dii corps, to a control which was antagonistic to every principle of genuine democracy. As an illustration let me cite the case of a Connecticut-born Yankee, a local politi- cian of considerable repute and withal a hater of slavery, who, in a speech made at Salem to a Democratic assembly, used the following language : "The paramount duty of Democrats now is to stick together, for I never expect to see anything good come outside of the Democratic party."* This declaration was loudly cheered and met with no dissenting voice. And ♦Ralph C. Geer.